Linking all old tickets that share a common field value

[Matt Munson]

Hi All,

I am trying to write an automation and am getting stuck. Here is my situation:

I would like to write an automation that will go through all my existing tickets, and link any tickets that have a common value in a custom field.

I know I can use a branch rule to find and link all tickets that share a value in that field as the triggering ticket, and that I can establish this as an automation for newly generated tickets.

But I have a large pile of existing unlinked tickets (about 800) that I would like to get linked together (preferably without burning all my automation allowance).

Is there a clever a way to nest branch conditions?

Many thanks.

Matt

[Bill Sheboy]

Hi @Matt Munson -- Welcome to the Atlassian Community!

What problem are you trying to solve by linking these work items?  What could you accomplish if all of these work items were already linked?  That is, "why do this?"  Knowing that may help the community offer better suggestions.

Until we know that...

First, there is no built-in / reliable way to nest branching with automation rules using the Free and Standard license levels.

Next, you seem to be describing cross-linking the work items.  That is, every single work item with value "X" in your custom field is linked to every other single item with that value.  That is often a bad idea to solve this type of association / linking as it is prone to errors and requires a lot of change when one single work item changes.  And...would require multiple automation rules just to stay in synch.

Alternatives for scenarios such as this are to rely upon JQL and your custom field value to find the work items, or add another indicator (although this adds to the brittleness problem for updates).

Kind regards,
Bill